A simulation study of sperm motility hydrodynamics near fish eggs and spheres

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12520%2F16%3A43890400" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12520/16:43890400 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519315005068" target="_blank" >http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519315005068</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.10.013" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.10.013</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

A simulation study of sperm motility hydrodynamics near fish eggs and spheres

Original language description

For teleost fish fertilisation, sperm must proceed through a small opening on the egg surface, referred to as the micropyle. In this paper, we have used boundary element simulations to explore whether the hydrodynamic attraction between sperm and a fish egg can be a sperm guidance cue. Hydrodynamical egg-sperm interactions alone do not increase the chances of an egg encounter, nor do they induce surface swimming for virtual turbot fish sperm across smooth spheres with a diameter of 1 mm, which is representative of a turbot fish egg. When a repulsive surface force between the virtual turbot sperm and the egg is introduced, as motivated by surface charge and van-der-Waals interactions for instance, we find that extended surface swimming of the virtual sperm across a model turbot egg occurs, but ultimately the sperm escapes from the egg. This is due to the small exit angle of the scattering associated with the initial sperm-egg interaction at the egg surface, leading to a weak drift away from the egg, in combination with a weak hydrodynamical attraction between both gametes, though the latter is not sufficient to prevent eventual escape. The resulting transience is not observed experimentally but is a detailed quantitative difference between theory and observation in that stable surface swimming is predicted for eggs with radii larger than about 1.8 mm. Regardless, the extended sperm swimming trajectory across the egg constitutes a two-dimensional search for the micropyle and thus the egg is consistently predicted to provide a guidance cue for sperm once they are sufficiently close. In addition, the observation that the virtual turbot sperm swims stably next to a flat plane given repulsive surface interactions, but does not swim stably adjacent to a turbot-sized egg, which is extremely large by sperm-lengthscales, also highlights that the stability of sperm swimming near a boundary is very sensitive to geometry.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_x - Unclassified - Peer-reviewed scientific article (Jimp, Jsc and Jost)

CEP classification

EB - Genetics and molecular biology

OECD FORD branch

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Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2016

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Theoretical Biology

ISSN

0022-5193

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

389

Issue of the periodical within the volume

Neuveden

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

187-197

UT code for WoS article

000367213300018

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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